Thread: Parente: Governor should sign the Secure Communities Act

Parente: Governor should sign the Secure Communities Act

By Marie Parente/Daily News columnist
Milford Daily News
Posted Jul 19, 2011 @ 12:01 AM
Last update Jul 19, 2011 @ 09:31 PM
MILFORD —

Dear Gov. Deval Patrick:

I apologize for not attending your "listening tour" at Milford's Draper Park. Actually, I rode around the park and saw 50 or so people milling around. They appeared to be campaigners and members of your entourage. I thought I had misunderstood the nature of the gathering and continued on to my next appointment.

According to the July 13 edition of the Milford Daily News, many people in the small gathering held signs urging you to accept the Secure Communities Act.

I believe that Cecilia Delgaudio of Hopkinton spoke for many of us when she stated, "the program could make streets safer." I agree. It would also curb the many serious crimes and "misdemeanors" that often escape serious censure.

The federal program to which Ms. Delgaudio referred permits law enforcement officers to fingerprint everyone who is arrested and booked to be matched against the criminal history records of the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.

Your statement that "acceptance of the act gives the impression that we are doing something else" was interesting. We know Massachusetts is not doing "something else" to curb illegal immigration which has become an open-ended economic burden for the Bay State's taxpayers as demands by illegal aliens for "free" human services increases exponentially.

Your response leaves no doubt you will continue to look askance at the illegal alien's undocumented identities and lack of background checks. Your ostensible endorsement of their behavior serves as an open-ended invitation for people from all countries to come to America without regard for our immigration laws. It is no comfort to us that you have insulated those who violate our borders from the Secure Communities Act and left all of us, legal and illegal, without the protection the act offers participating states.

No doubt, your actions will promote Massachusetts as a sanctuary state.

Further, you said that adopting the program could make illegal immigrants less likely to report crimes because they feel they are being targeted and facilitate deportation of children who only know about life in the United States.

Do you truthfully believe those who fear they will be targeted by the Secure Communities Act would have become informants for law enforcement departments without enactment of the act?

The Secure Communities Act will ferret out wrongdoers without endangering a frightened and untrained populace. Actually, the Secure Communities Act would protect all of us.

Apparently you missed the widely publicized death of Milford's Richard Grossi who lost his life as a result of an illegal alien's disregard for federal, state and local laws.

The Milford area illegal aliens knew the illegal alien responsible for Grossi's death was living and working in Milford. They did not report her unlicensed driving and illegal employment to proper authorities. I would not have expected them to risk their own illegal immigration status by acting as "informants."

That tragic day, the female illegal alien was illegally driving her husband's vehicle, to her illegal job, when she failed to notice or was unable to read a stop sign posted in one of Milford's busiest intersections.

She sailed through the hazardous intersection and struck a car driven by Richard Grossi, who died from his injuries. Unbelievably, while awaiting disposition of her crime, the authorities programmed a leg bracelet that allowed her to perform "family duties" and continue travel to her illegal place of employment. That is amazing since her illegal presence in the United States, her illegal employment and her unlicensed driving were all examples of laws frequently broken by illegal aliens.

Not a day passes that I don't think about Richard Grossi, who died all too young, and now lies cold in his grave, mourned every day by those who love him and forgotten by those sworn to protect him.

What happened to the lawbreaking perpetrator of this crime? She requested and received time to allow her child to complete another school year in Milford. At the completion of this accommodation, the entire family was deported to their home country at the expense of Massachusetts' taxpayers.

The Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement refused to accept sole responsibility for allowing this perpetrator of a crime to escape American justice, saying the prosecutor should have let them know if he wanted to pursue the case instead of just deporting the person. According to the Boston ICE office, a writ of detainer is usually filed to prevent someone from being removed from the country.

"Generally, what happens if an illegal person is charged with a crime, a writ of detainer is filed by us," said ICE spokesman Harold Ort. "We don't want people to be removed before their trials, but this is a two-way street. If the prosecutor wishes to continue with charges they should have filed a writ so we can detain them."

Governor, it is time for newcomers to our shores to obey all our laws, beginning with legal entry to America. It is time for them, as our ancestors did, to have a sponsor, a job, a place to live supported by their own hard-earned dollars.

It is time to end the confiscation of our jobs and taxes. Governor, it is time for you to support and protect law-abiding citizens. It is time for you to sign the Secure Communities Act.

Marie J. Parente of Milford, a former state representative and town official, writes on alternate Wednesdays for the Daily News.

http://www.milforddailynews.com/archive ... z1SfFI2oQR

Excellent article!!! Massachusettes is loaded with illegals. That is where I used to work when I had a job.